The hopes and expectations of the initial Blake Griffin and Chris Paul pairing were to begin a new chapter for a Clippers franchise that has known little more than perpetual disappointment. The goodwill grew quickly with an unfathomable comeback on the road against Memphis. The acquisition of a title-winning head coach came next, and an ownership change followed not long after.

The equity in the team was building faster than property values in Northeast Los Angeles. Each moment that could potentially send the team back to their status as cellar-dwellers was rebuked.

Yet by the time these same Clippers completed a collapse of historic proportions against the Sacramento Kings, it only stood as another disappointing footnote in a list that only grows larger.

Teams Leading by 18+ Points in Final 5 Minutes – This SeasonWins 359Losses 1 (Clippers)

It’s as if the Clippers are basketball’s embodiment of Eleanor Shellstrop, left to wonder how they ended up here or if they’re actually in The Good Place. And as confidence in the team’s ability begins to dwindle, the greater issue is one of trust.

From a fan standpoint, this has largely been what has made this season especially difficult to follow. The hot start was a promise of something greater. The majority of the season has instead been a reminder of the team’s weaknesses. The loss to the Kings, following a needed victory against the Utah Jazz? The pulling of a scab from a wound that refuses to completely heal.

Each setback takes from that well of trust until the fans are stripped of confidence in the team’s ability to win, even when acknowledging at the same time how incredibly difficult it is to be the last team standing at the end of 82 games and four playoff rounds.

It ends up not mattering that this is the best era of Clippers basketball in the history of the franchise. The ability or talent of the team becomes an afterthought because what remains in the mind are failures, even if the high points of repeated playoff appearances and 50-win seasons are benchmarks few other franchises can actively claim. So, despite the players speaking candidly and honestly about the problem areas that lead to these results, there is an inclination to tune out and pass off those comments as platitudes.

Postgame Sound 🔊 | "I just didn't think we had the right spirit." -Blake addresses the media after today's game. pic.twitter.com/Tt0BYsgtpi

A winning streak could change things once again. There is an inherent fickleness in the fanaticism of following a sports franchise, and the promise of hope is often the first step in rebuilding that well of trust. But fandom is often a results-oriented exercise, and the team as it is currently constructed is running ever short on time to deliver a better outcome than seasons past.

Really we don’t need anything, because he’ll make a crazy trade for his son.

BongstradamusMarch 30, 2017 at 8:54 am

I have no animus against Doc, but clearly this shit isn’t working. We had a great start to this season but now it just looks like a trainwreck and we’re about to hit the playoffs. Reading about the Orlando rumors makes me think this thing is already done.

GuestMarch 27, 2017 at 8:15 pm

This has nothing to do with trust. This has to do with reality.

After 6 years of the Chris Paul/Blake Griffin era this is who they are. How many more years are needed to prove it?

Chris Paul has a 31-42 career playoff record. He’s 21-29 in the playoffs as a Clipper.

You have to win 16 playoff games to win it all. The Clippers have never won more than 7 playoff games in a season.

Since the year 2000 only 2 Western Conference teams have failed to make the Western Conference Finals. Those 2 teams are the Clippers and the Pelicans.

Who spent 12 years being the “Point God” for those two teams? Oh, that’s right.

GuestMarch 28, 2017 at 2:59 pm

Think about that for a minute.

The Kings, the Wolves, the Nuggets, and the Jazz have made the West Finals since 2000 but not the “Point God.”

At least New Orleans has the excuse of not becoming a Western Conference team until 2004.

JakeMarch 29, 2017 at 5:58 pm

As most people here know, at least the ones who haven’t been consistently making contrived and nonsensical excuses the last four years for all of the terrible things Rivers has done since he came to the Clippers, the overwhelming problem with the Clippers now and for the last four years is Doc Rivers.

Boston currently is in first place in the East, not that I think they’ll end up there. Does anybody think Boston misses Rivers? Look what Boston has done since Rivers left them and look what the Clippers have done since he came to them, a drop in winning percentage of about 100 points.

Rivers was a fool for playing Paul Pierce so much in the Sacramento game. That foolishness alone cost the Clippers the game. Pierce played 15 minutes, was 1-5, had a +/- of -12 and was an integral part of the disgraceful collapse in the last 6 minutes. Rivers must be trying to build-up some of Pierce’s stats. It’s like the way he started Pierce in the loss to Boston, where Pierce played 5 minutes and had a +/- of -6, which is what lost that game. Pierce has been a disaster, and the reason he’s been a disaster is Rivers signed him.

JakeMarch 29, 2017 at 6:04 pm

It does no good trying to deflect attention away from all of Rivers’ bumbling, bad judgment moves. It does no good trying to blame the Clippers descending into mediocrity on Paul and Griffin, because nobody even begins to think that is true. Everybody knows Paul and Griffin have been the only things keeping the Clippers above mediocrity the last six years. The seasonal records since they got here are irrefutable evidence of that.

JakeMarch 29, 2017 at 6:07 pm

There are reasonable grounds to debate whether the Clippers should sign Paul and Griffin to future long term contracts, but there are no grounds at all for debating their stellar effect on the Clippers since they have been here.

Let's Go Clippers, let's go! This 2019/2020 season is going be incredible and we're watching every step with you.

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